Tractors and utility vehicles used for agricultural work and lawn care may carry a mid-mounted mower deck covering two or more rotary cutting blades on the lower ends of vertically oriented spindles. A mower deck may be attached to a tractor or other vehicle with mechanical linkages that allow the deck to be carried at a range of different cutting heights, and raised or lowered between each height. The blade spindles may be rotated by one or more belts and pulleys above the surface of the deck, which may be driven by an engine and/or power take off shaft. The deck perimeter may have several anti-scalp wheels and/or caster wheels, also referred to as gauge wheels.
Mower decks commonly are attached to the frame of a tractor or utility vehicle at a position between the front and rear wheels. Often it is desirable to remove a mid-mounted mower deck in order to service the unit or store it while using other implements. These types of mower decks are difficult to remove from the tractor or vehicle due to the high weight of the deck and the proximity of the deck to tires and other parts of the tractor or vehicle.
Several steps are needed to remove a mid-mounted mower deck from a tractor or vehicle. First, the mower deck must be disconnected from the mechanical linkages that are part of the mower lift system. Then, the operator must start the tractor and raise the lift system to clear the mower. The operator also must turn the tractor or vehicle's front wheels fully to the left to give the mower deck maximum clearance. Next, the operator must disconnect the driveshaft from the mower deck. Once the driveshaft is disconnected, the gauge wheels must be turned to the sideways position. In some instances, it even may be necessary to remove the mower deck's gauge wheel(s) and its mounting bracket in order to provide enough clearance to slide out the mower deck from under the tractor or vehicle. Once everything has been disconnected and adequate clearance has been achieved, the operator must manually pull the mower deck from under the tractor or vehicle.
When the operator is ready to use the mower deck again, reinstallation may be more difficult than removal of the mower deck. Various mounting points must be aligned. For example, holes in the lift system must be realigned with the holes on the mower deck in order to reinstall the retaining pins. The mower deck must be manually positioned between the front and rear wheels of the tractor or vehicle, and then pushed or pulled under the tractor or vehicle into the desired position where it may be connected to the lift system linkage. The difficulty of reinstallation may be due at least in part to the heavy weight of the deck, the resistance of the gauge wheels supporting the deck to lateral movement, obstructions under the tractor such as a front wheel drive shaft, and irregular ground surfaces.
A mid-mounted mower deck is needed that can be installed or uninstalled from a tractor or other vehicle without pushing or pulling it under the side of the tractor or vehicle. A mid-mounted mower deck is needed that can reduce the difficulty of aligning mounting points to connect the deck to a lift system.